Baked Beetroot and Asparagus Risotto

This was an experiment that went quite well indeed!  I have been fairly uninspired lately due to a lingering cold, but decided if I was ever going to shed the lurgy, I'd need some veggies, stat! I went to the market and bought as many vegetables as I could possibly carry (shamefully not all that much) and made a few big batches of soup! After 2 days of only soup for each meal, I decided that perhaps something a little more filling might be on the cards for our next meal (that and I was starting to worry Pete might actually turn yellow with the amount of carrot soup he was consuming!).

So, with the remaining veggies that I hadn't managed to sneak into a pot of soup, I created this risotto! I like pink. I like to wear pink, I like to colour my cheeks pink, I like to make pink cakes, I like all things pink, so why not eat pink too! That was my motivation behind the choice of vegetables! I don't really have a recipe, so to speak, as I just made it up without measuring, as I really wasn't sure it was going to be any good! But, as with most risotto's, anything goes, and you can adapt it to how you want it to taste!

Ingredients

Raw whole beetroots (a few....)

Asparagus shoots (some...)

Onion

Aborio rice

Chicken stock (just using stock cubes is fine)

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Bake the beetroots in a high oven for about an hour until the are soft to cut with a knife. If you don't have time for this step, tinned/fresh beetroots would probably suffice, however the bakedness does add a delectable flavour! 

2. In a solid-based pot, lightly brown off your chopped onions for a few minutes.

3. Add in as much aborio as you need. For two people, we usually add around a cup, and it makes plenty. 

4. Stir the rice and onions for a few minutes until the rice has changed colour and become translucent. 

5. If you wish, add a dash of white wine now, if not, proceed with the stock. 

6. Add 1 cup of chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you'd prefer) and stir madly. It will absorb quite quickly to start with so have the next cup on standby!

7. Add another cup of stock and continue stirring. 

8. I used to then add water bit by bit, stirring all the time, but find that with a heavy pot, the risotto is not quite as high maintenance and can be simmering away on its own. So for my Le Creuset pan, I added another 2 cups of boiling water (no stock) to the rice and would stir every 5 or so minutes. In between, prepare the beetroot and asparagus. All I did for the asparagus was to shallow boil in water for about 5 minutes. The beetroot (however if has been prepared, fresh or baked) should be cubed into bite sized pieces.

9. After about half an hour the water should all have evaporated and the rice should be light and fluffy. At this point, add some butter into the rice and stir through. 

10. Add the cooked asparagus (having chopped it into pieces) and stir through for a minute or so to let the rice absorb the flavour. 

11. Add in the beetroot and stir, not being careful to keep the beetroot whole, as that's how the rice takes on the glorious pink hue! 

12. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to serve and enjoy hot! 

Tasty AND pretty!!!!